Month: November 2016

Being grateful to local media for helping me spread a little more kindness:

I am absolutely astounded by how many people my Kindness Advent Calendar is reaching. In just 11 days, over 220,000 people from 172 countries have visited my blog post… and an incredible 68,000 have already downloaded the calendar.

But mostly I am deeply heartened at the thought of this huge ripple effect of kindness reaching out all over the world, from Namibia to Nicaragua, Azerbaijan to Antigua, Mauritius to Malaysia, China to Cambodia, Saudi Arabia to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh to Bermuda, and so many more wonderful countries full of kind-hearted folk.

I’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who’s downloaded the calendar and are joining me spreading a little festive kindness. It’s going to be so much fun.

I know from my own personal experience how just one small act of kindness can really brighten someone’s day, and also help remind our loved ones, our friends, our colleagues, our neighbours, our children, and people we haven’t yet met, that there is still good in the world.

A big thank to you the Nottingham Post for publishing this article about my kindness mission. A few days after it appeared on the website, the reporter told me that they usually get between 1-2,000 views per article, but the one featuring my Kindness Advent Calendar had received over 10,000 views.

And another big thank you to BBC Radio Nottingham who invited me to have a live chat with the lovely Mark Dennison on their morning show.

Did you hear me say ‘LIVE’ – gulp!

Despite talking ten to the dozen (well, I had a LOT to say!) and dwelling on what I did or didn’t say, I enjoyed our chat and was delighted when Mark said he would join in (and I think it is legally binding Mark 😊). I especially love that after we’d finished, Mark commented how: “…it’s given [him] that warm glow.”

This is what it’s all about.

I’m really excited about starting spreading a little Christmas cheer with you all and would like to invite you to join my Facebook community, Spreading a little kindness, to share our ideas and experiences throughout December.

And if you do post about your kindness acts on Facebook or Twitter (come and say hello: @HelenCGreenUK), please use the hashtag #KindnessAdventCalendar so we can all enjoy this wonderful kindness ripple we are creating.

I’d like to sign off with this rather apt Howard Zinn quote: “We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”

☆♡☆

ps If you’d like to read the Nottingham Post article, please click here.

or if you fancy a listen to my chat with Radio Nottingham’s Mark Dennison:

There’s been a huge ripple effect of kindness on social media these past few days leading up to today’s World Kindness Day. And I have to confess I’m feeling very excited about it.

I loved making up my World Kindness Day Goody Bags and placing them on cars in the hospital car park on Friday, and I’m ecstatic about the positive reaction to my Kindness Advent Calendar I posted yesterday (at the time of writing over 250 kindness warriors have downloaded it already, woohooo!!)

So it’s no surprise that due to my limited energy from the CFS, I’m feeling pretty wiped out today. I have a family birthday dinner to go to shortly, but really wanted to do just one more kindness act in honour of #WorldKindnessDay.

So today’s is a simple one.

I wanted to enjoy today’s gorgeous sunshine and autumn colours so took a gentle soul stroll down to our local shops.

And I bought this cheerful autumn bunch of flowers.

I thought I’d split the flowers and place a single flower onto windscreens of cars parked at the restaurant. And to each flower, I’ve attached one of my kindness cards with the message: Celebrating World Kindness Day – Sun 13th Nov.

And I decided to take my own advice and be kind to myself as well. So I treated myself to the same colourful bunch of flowers… I know they’ll keep me smiling all week long.

I also wrote a happy message on the back of one of my kindness cards and will stick it onto the restaurant’s bathroom mirror for everyone to enjoy.

And this message is for you too 🙂

☆♡☆

p.s. If you found one of my kindness flowers, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below…

It’s almost that time of year again… time to spread a little festive kindness.

My Kindness Advent Calendar works just like a normal advent calendar but instead of the usual chocolate countdown, we are embracing the true spirit of Christmas by doing 25 random acts of Christmas kindness.

How cool is that 🙂

I was wonderfully surprised and deeply thrilled that last year’s Kindness Advent Calendar (2015) was so well received.With just over 200 downloads, I’d like to give a huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who took part.

I guarantee that your acts of kindness made a difference and brightened someone else’s day.

☆ You are AMAZING ☆

So again, I’d like to invite lovely you and yours to join me spreading a little kindness by doing small acts kindness leading up to Christmas Day.

Now, I know December is an extra busy month for most of us, and we can find ourselves rushing around trying to get everything ready in time for the Christmas holidays.

So with that in mind, I’ve made each kindness act:
1. Quick
2. Easy
3. Cheap (or mostly free!)

This way, anyone and everyone can take part.

You may want to mix it up and swap the acts around, or even create your own kindness acts. And don’t worry if you can’t do an act of kindness every single day, sometimes it’s just not possible as I know too well with the nature of my CFS flare ups.

But even if every one of us manages to do just one kindness act on one day – imagine how amazing that would be!

It’s such a wonderful way to spread some festive cheer and boost our own spirits at the same time.

But I really need your help.

Please help me spread the word by encouraging family, friends, colleagues and neighbours to take part in this kindness extravaganza as we countdown to Christmas.

I’d be ever so grateful if you could share this blog post with others – simply click on one of the ‘share’ buttons below, or share it however works best for you – and let’s get the kindness ripple effect reaching out far and wide over the festive season.

JUST ADDED: A few clever folk have suggested I get onto Twitter to help keep the kindness ripple effect spreading further and further. I’m a complete novice, but have set up the hashtags #KindnessAdventCalendar and #ChristmasKindness so we can share our festive kindness fun. You can find me on Twitter here.

But most of all, remember to HAVE FUN and enjoy creating a kindness ripple effect in your community.

Sunday 13th November is World Kindness Day, and wouldn’t it be truly wonderful if we all could spread a little more kindness around our homes and communities on this day. Especially with all this unrest we are currently facing.

I’d hoped to do a really big kindness act to celebrate this special day, like walk around my home city offering free hugs, or something where I could invite the local media to get involved.

But sadly it’s not possible this year as I’m still struggling a little from my recent CFS relapse and also have family commitments on Sunday.

So I see this as a fantastic excuse to get in early by digging out my fabulous kindness goody bags, filling them with fun and yummy goodies, and giving them to unsuspecting strangers.

Yippeeeee!

This will be my fourth RAOK featuring these little bags of joy (the others were at Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter). These bags are filled with a fun ‘noise-maker’ toy, a ‘you are AMAZING’ postcard, a few stickers, a mini chocolate bar, and a couple of sweeties.

I also added one of my Kindness Cards with a simple message to celebrate World Kindness Day.

Today, I headed down to our local hospital and popped my World Kindness Day Goody Bags onto the windscreens of cars parked in the hospital car park. I’m thinking that the recipients will have been visiting a friend or loved one, have had a hospital appointment or even a hospital stay.

I appreciate how this season’s stunning beauty softens the blow of summer ending. Of course I’m not keen on the colder climate, the shorter days, and the approach of winter, but autumn’s stunning leaf art outshines all the other seasons.

I just love those glorious blue sky days when the sun illuminates the trees. I especially love mytree, the one I can see from my bed. And on those dark and dreary days when the sun pops out to say hello, I can’t take my eyes off its gorgeous golden glow.

Thank you autumn, you truly are one of Mother Nature’s best shows.

I’d also like to give an honourable mention to my altar. Since I spend most of my time in my bedroom, I’m so thankful that I’ve been able to transform a little part of it into my very own personal altar.

As part of my kindness mission, I wanted to write a thank you note to the teacher who made the biggest impression on me.

And I immediately thought of Dr Anna Powell.

Anna was one of my lecturers at uni and made a huge impression on me. I always really looked forward to her classes and found her enthusiasm, knowledge and content, inspiring, engaging and hugely enjoyable.

In fact, I wish I could still attend her lectures today, over 20 years on!

She believed in me and encouraged me, and for that I will always be deeply grateful.

So, I wrote a thank you message on the back of one of my ‘You are AMAZING’ postcards and sent it off today. Thankfully she’s still at the same university, so was really easy to find.

I hope it’s a nice surprise and a reminder of how much what she does matters.